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Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

SAN FRANCISCO, October 5, 2010 -- Global trade negotiators on Tuesday released what they're calling the final draft of a anti-counterfeiting trade agreement that also addresses enforcement measures against intellectual property violations in the digital environment.
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American and European trade representatives said Monday that they've successfully concluded talks concerning a global anti-counterfeiting trade agreement, and they're ready to release the draft sometime this week, but a report in the Wall Street Journal says that the negotiators still can't agree on the terms concerning enforcement of intellectual property rights in the digital environment.
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SAN FRANCISCO, September 9, 2010 -- The European Union might drop out of a global intellectual property enforcement agreement between the United States, Japan and other countries because of too many compromises in the two most recent rounds of negotiations, said the European Union's Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht.
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SAN FRANCISCO, September 7, 2010 - U2's band manager Paul McGuinness has once again lit up the debate over who and what's responsible for the decline of the music industry. In the August edition of British GQ, McGuinness declares: "I am convinced that ISPs are not going to help the music and film industry voluntarily. Some things have got to come with the force of legislation."
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SAN FRANCISCO, September 7, 2010 - International trade negotiators have dropped a controversial secondary liability provision regarding online copyright infringement, but still appear to be haggling over the anti-circumvention provisions, a leaked copy of an August version of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement shows.
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SAN FRANCISCO, September 2, 2010 - U.S. trade negotiators participating in talks with their European, Japanese and other other global counterparts blocked the online publication of the latest draft of a controversial anti-counterfeiting and piracy agreement after the latest round of meetings this August, according to a report from a European Union policy foundation.
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WASHINGTON, July 13, 2010 – Major U.S. technology companies are worrying over an international trade agreement currently under negotiations because they see it as putting them on shaky legal ground.
At the third Intellectual Property Breakfast Club held by BroadbandBreakfast.com, panelists argued over the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement and its potential impact on the technology industry.
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WASHINGTON, July 6, 2010 – A communications and technology lobbying group is gnashing its teeth over a pending international trade agreement governing intellectual property that it says could bind U.S. firms and give internet access providers too much authority.
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SAN FRANCISCO, July 2, 2010 -- US trade representatives say they made progress this week in building consensus on key provisions of a new international intellectual property enforcement agreement -- but not enough to share with the rest of the world.
“There was no consensus to release another text," said Nefeterius Akeli McPherson, a USTR spokeswoman in an e-mailed note about this week's discussions over the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement in Lucerne, Switzerland. "There was not sufficient progress at this round to make release of new text meaningful. The issues under discussion are still well reflected in the text that is public now. We hope to make more progress at the next round.”
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SAN FRANCISCO, July 1, 2010 --The office of the United States Trade Representative said Thursday that its negotiators had "made progress in building consensus," over specific provisions in a controversial global intellectual property agreement -- but it's unlikely that whatever consensus they reached will be welcomed by all back at home.
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SAN FRANCISCO, June 28, 2010 - The office of the United States Trade Representative is standing firm as its negotiators head into a set of week-long negotiations over the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement in Lucerne, Switzerland.
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SAN FRANCISCO, June, 23, 2010 - A White House official in charge of coordinating the US government's enforcement of intellectual property rights on Tuesday pledged openness in the face of mounting criticism that the Obama administration is engaging in a secretive negotiating process with some of its trading partners as they discuss ways to more strictly enforce those rights both online and at their borders.
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SAN FRANCISCO, May 26, 2010 - The Obama administration should include a voice that represents the public's point of view in its advisory committee for trade negotiations that involve intellectual property, said Public Knowledge, a Washington, D.C. non-profit group in a filing with the Commerce Department Tuesday.
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SAN FRANCISCO, April 29, 2010 - Measuring the impact of the U.S. legal doctrine of "fair use," which enables online activities such as search, limited copying, sharing, ripping, mixing and burning might seem impossible, but not to the trade group the Computer & Communications Industry Association. The group released a study saying it has measured the “Economic Contribution of Industries Relying on Fair Use.”
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WASHINGTON, December 16, 2009 - The U.S. is committed to an inter-agency process for combating piracy of American intellectual property, Vice President Joseph Biden said Tuesday during a press availability with top law enforcement officials.
Appearing at the White House complex with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, the directors of the FBI, Customs and Border Protection, and the United States Secret Service, as well as the chief executives of the nation's largest entertainment companies.
The meeting was followed by a closed-door, roundtable discussion on international intellectual property theft.
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